Ajay Close
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Ajay Close grew up in Yorkshire and, after her school years at a Sheffield comprehensive, studied at Cambridge. She worked at Granta before becoming a journalist and then a novelist. She is the author of six literary novels, of which her first, Official and Doubtful, was longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her novels are pacy, often political, page-turning, dealing with family and relationships under pressure, and can be read as thrillers. Her new novel, What Doesn’t Kill Us, will be published by Saraband in early 2024.
What Doesn’t Kill Us
Winner: Fiction Book of the Year, Scotland's National Book Awards
by Ajay Close
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“This book is a must read … a uniquely raw and authentic voice.” βMaxine Peake
A killer stalks the streets of Leeds. Every man is a suspect. Every woman is at risk. But in a house on Cleopatra Street, women are fighting back.
Itβs the eve of the 1980s. PC Liz Seeley joins the squad investigating the murders. With a violent boyfriend at home and male chauvinist pigs at work, she is drawn to a feminist collective led by the militant and uncompromising Rowena. There she meets Charmaine β young, Black, artistic, and fighting discrimination on two fronts.
As the list of victims grows and police fail to catch the killer, women across the north are too terrified to go out after dark. To the feminists, the Butcher is a symptom of wider misogyny. Their anger finds an outlet in violence and Liz is torn between loyalty to them and her duty as a police officer. Which way will she jump?
Ajay Close combines the tension of a police procedural with the power and passion of the womenβs lib movement. By turns emotional, action-packed and darkly funny, What Doesnβt Kill Us reveals just how much the world has changed since the 1970s β and how much it hasnβt.
REVIEWS OF What Doesn’t Kill Us
βThis book is a must read. Ajay has a uniquely raw and authentic voice. She conjures up atmosphere like no other.β Maxine Peake
βPowerful and compelling. A page-turner that forces us to question how far we've progressed in the past fifty years.β Olga Wojtas
"Immensely humane, a book of huge themes and minutely observed characters β¦ with a warm intelligence, compassion and wit.β Ewan Morrison
βTaut, atmospheric and beautifully observed.β Brian Groom
βBeautifully written, stark and relevant.β Caro Ramsay
βVivid and visceral.β Val McDermid
